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Keyed bugle

Keyed bugle, c. 1830
Brass instrument
Other names	Royal Kent bugle Kent bugle French: bugle à clefs German: Klappenhorn, Klappenflügelhorn Italian: cornetta a chiavi
Classification	Aerophone Brass instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	423.21 (aerophone sounded by lip vibration with keys)
Developed	19th century
Playing range
Range of the keyed bugle in C
Related instruments
Bugle Ophicleide Keyed trumpet Cornet

The keyed bugle (also Royal Kent bugle, or Kent bugle) is a wide conical bore brass instrument with tone holes operated by keys to alter the pitch and provide a full chromatic scale. It was developed from the bugle around 1800 and was popular in military bands in Europe and the United States in the early 19th century, and in Britain as late as the 1850s.

History

The first known mention of a bugle with keys appears on 4 April 1800 in London's Morning Chronicle newspaper, in an advertisement for an instrument built by instrument maker George Astor. However, not until 5 May 1810 was a patent on a five-keyed bugle granted to Yorkshireman Joseph Haliday, entitled "Halliday's Improvements in the Musical Instrument called the Bugle Horn." Shortly thereafter, in 1811 the first known solos on the instrument were performed by trumpeter Henry Willman, brother of the clarinetist Thomas Lindsay Willman. Performances at the Theatre Royal, Dublin were announced with "Mr. H. WILLMAN will play a Concerto on that highly-improved Instrument, THE Patent Kent Bugle Horn, (INVENTED BY MR. JOSEPH HALLIDAY)". The first book on the instrument, which by then had six keys to enable more tones, was Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Royal Kent Bugle by Johann Bernhard Logier in 1813.

While the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica claims that Haliday called it the "Royal Kent Bugle" as a compliment to the duke of Kent, who was at the time commander-in-chief, and encouraged the introduction of the instrument into the regimental bands, this appears to be at least partly erroneous. The duke was never commander-in-chief of any bands in Europe, and the dedication might have been made by Holden. A Royal Kent bugle in the key of C, stamped with Halliday’s name as inventor, and made by P. Turton, 5 Wormwood Gate, Dublin, was exhibited by Col. Shaw-Hellier at the Royal Military Exhibition in 1890. The instrument, made of copper, measures 17 inches (43 cm), and the total length of the tubing, including the mouthpiece, 50.5 inches (128 cm). The diameter at the mouthpiece is 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) and at the bell 5.75 inches (14.6 cm).

Pitch

The instrument has a tessitura range of around two octaves, not including the fundamental tones. The notes of the harmonic series with no keys down are:

To the original instrument specified in the patent, Halliday added a sixth key, which became the first and was in the normal position open; this key when closed gave B♭, with the same series of harmonics as the open tube. The series, however, becomes shorter with each successive key:

The bore of the instrument is just wide enough in proportion to its length to make possible the playing of the fundamental tones in the first two series, but these notes are never used, and the harmonics above the sixth are also avoided, being of doubtful intonation. In the ophicleide, the bass variety of the key bugle, the bore is sufficiently wide to produce fundamentals of a satisfactory quality.

The keyed bugle was chiefly used in B♭, a crook for B♭ being frequently added to the bugle in C.

References

1. Herbert, Myers & Wallace 2019, p. 486, Appendix 2: The Ranges of Labrosones.
2. Herbert, Myers & Wallace 2019, p. 234–6, Keyed bugle.
3. Farmer, Henry George (1904). Memoirs of the Royal Artillery Band; Its Origin, History, and Process; An Account of the Rise of Military Music in England. London: Boosey and Co. p. 183. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
4. Lasocki 2009, p. 16.
5. "NEW-INVENTED BUGLE HORN". The Morning Chronicle. London. 4 April 1800.; cited in Lasocki (2009).
6. ^ Lasocki 2009, p. 11.
7. Lasocki 2009, p. 36.
8. Lasocki 2009, p. 13.
9. Logier, Johann Bernhard (25 Nov 1813). Introduction to the Art of playing on the Royal Kent Bugle Illustrated with Appropriate Examples of Fingering also General Rules for Acquiring a good Embouchre [sic] to which are prefixed Forty-two Lessons in various Keys Calculated to facilitate the Improvement of the Pupil on this Curious & Delightful Instrument. Dublin, Sackville-Street: J. B. Logier's Music Saloon. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
10. ^ Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). "Bugle" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). pp. 760–761.
11. ^ Day, Captain C. R. (1891). A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. pp. 168–169, and pl. xi. fig. D. Retrieved 23 September 2021.

Bibliography

• Dudgeon, Ralph T. (2004). The Keyed Bugle (2nd ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-81085-123-8. OL 7996991M. Wikidata Q116224505.
• Herbert, Trevor; Myers, Arnold; Wallace, John, eds. (2019). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Brass Instruments. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316841273. ISBN 978-1-316-63185-0. OCLC 1038492212. OL 34730943M. Wikidata Q114571908.
• Herbert, Trevor; Wallace, John, eds. (1997). The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments. Cambridge Companions. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CCOL9780521563437. ISBN 978-1-139-00203-5. OCLC 460517551. OL 34482695M. Wikidata Q112852613.
• Lasocki, David (2009). "New Light on the Early History of the Keyed Bugle Part I: The Astor Advertisement and Collins v. Green". Historic Brass Society Journal. 21: 10–55. doi:10.2153/0120090011002. Retrieved 10 October 2021.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schlesinger, Kathleen (1911). "Bugle". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 760–761.

See also

• Bugle
• Ophicleide

• Brass instruments